The driver in a Memorial Day crash that killed five teens had an expired interim provisional license, according to a DMV audit.
That provisional license was the second the Department of Motor Vehicles had issued to Abdulrahman Alyahyan, 17, of Irvine,...

An immigration officer who demanded that a Vietnamese immigrant pick up hundreds of egg rolls and deliver them for an office party will stand trial later this year on bribery charges.
Mai Nhu Nguyen, an Irvine resident, allegedly took thousands of...

Four Mexican citizens face federal charges for their alleged involvement in this week's attempt to smuggle undocumented immigrants into Crystal Cove by boat, authorities said.
The four were among 14 detained at the cove Tuesday morning when their panga...

Minutes before one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed around them, two firefighters from the initial wave to arrive on the scene exchanged the following over their walkie-talkies:
"Chief, what stair you in?"
"South stairway Adam, South Tower."...

*Corrected: An earlier version of the piece misspelled the writer's name.
As a veteran, the security of our country is of great concern to me. I served in the United States Army in Iraq, and I understand the sacrifice that is needed to protect this great nation.
That's why I believe security starts with effective protection of our borders. We must be prepared for threats from all directions in a post-9/11 world.
Illegal immigration is a serious challenge for our country. The men and women who protect...

Nearly 15,000 pairs of phony Paul Frank pajamas worth nearly $100,000 were found and confiscated at the Los Angeles-Long Beach Port, federal authorities announced Tuesday.
The seizure of the pajamas imprinted with cuddly characters such as Blue Julius, Red Scurvy, Purple Scurvy and Pink Scurvy were found Oct. 13 in a shipment that arrived from Indonesia, said Jaime Ruiz, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank was founded in...

How would you respond if someone opened fire at work? How should you respond? And what can you do to prevent such a thing from happening in the first place?
Local law enforcement officers tackled those questions Wednesday afternoon at a lunch presentation hosted by the South Coast Metro Alliance's Business-Police Partnership.
The event brought together various public safety agencies, area business leaders and school officials. About 64 people attended the lunch at the DoubleTree Hotel in Santa Ana....

Newport-Mesa school officials have settled on a shortlist of tightened security options up for consideration, including running age-appropriate drills that teach students to run from, hide from or fight off intruders.
District staffers told the school board Tuesday that they recommend doubling or tripling the number of lockdown drills at each school and working with law enforcement to develop more detailed plans of what students should do if a gunman enters campus.
Schools currently run one lockdown...

*Updated from an earlier version
COSTA MESA — In an effort to crack down on illegal immigration, Mayor Allan Mansoor will ask the city to study a plan that would require employers to use E-Verify, a federal database that screens the immigration status of job applicants.
The issue is being brought forward at the request of Mayor Allan Mansoor, a staunch critic of illegal immigration.
"It's one piece of the puzzle; it's not going to solve everything," he said. "It has to be addressed on a larger...

Although law enforcement has a new background-check system that examines the immigration status of everyone arrested countywide, authorities still have more ways to catch illegal immigrants, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor said Tuesday.
"I was supportive and grateful for what [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] did, and I know the public was as well, but there is much more that can be done, and I will be bringing that forward," Mansoor said.
In April, Mansoor called a news conference to announce that...

COSTA MESA — Using a Costa Mesa man's detention as an example, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government this week on grounds that it doesn't give the mentally disabled a fair chance to dispute deportation orders.
Six suspected illegal immigrants, who are mentally handicapped, filed a federal suit Monday against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security with the support of the ACLU of Southern California, the Public Law Counsel in...